It was the final home match of the 2015 season, and the Blackburn College Volleyball team honored their lone senior Tuesday evening.  Patrece McLain played her final collegiate match in front of her home crowd.  The senior accounting major from Rantoul, Illinois entered this evening’s match among the all-time leaders in Blackburn history in assists with 795.  In her career, she also amassed a total of 73 service aces, 172 kills, 396 digs, and 25 blocks.

“It has been an honor to coach Patrece this year.  We would like to thank her for her dedication to the volleyball program these past four years.  She is not only passionate for the sport of volleyball, but also Blackburn athletics.  We will miss her next season,” said head coach Jordan Barton.

For the final home contest of the year, the Beavers hosted St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rival Fontbonne University.  The Griffins came into Carlinville in fourth place in the standings with a record of 12-17.  Blackburn struggled to keep pace with Fontbonne in the opening set.  The Griffins maintained the lead for the entirety of the set, running away with a 25-16 victory.

But the Beavers would bounce back in set number two, swapping leads with Fontbonne several times before the Griffins appeared to have pulled away late.  Down 24-22, Blackburn rallied back to tie the set at 24.  The Beavers were not finished, and came back to win set number two 26-24.

Unfortunately the Beavers could not ride the momentum from the previous set, and found themselves in a very deep rut in set three.  The Griffins exploded and fired off 13 straight service points to jump ahead 13-3.  Blackburn tried to establish a late comeback, but they could not overcome the massive early deficit and dropped the third set 25-13.

The Beavers hoped to force the match in a decisive fifth set after falling behind 2-1.  It was promising early on as things began to mirror set number two.  However Fontbonne proved to be too much despite another late rally by Blackburn, and won the match 25-20.

Emily Schroeder led the team with eight kills on the evening while her teammate Shelsie Timmermeier had seven.  Marlee Lindstrom continued her hot streak with a 21 dig performance.